With more leisure time and temperatures creeping up around Christmas, many locals are choosing to cool down in a refreshing pool. However pools must be kept healthy to keep you healthy.
Senior Environmental Officer with Murrumbidgee Local Health District, Tony Burns, said if pools aren’t maintained properly they can become a source of infection.
“As the weather heats up so does the opportunity for bugs and infections to grow at a rapid rate,” Mr Burns said.
“Swimming pools provide the perfect environment for this to happen so it’s important to be vigilant in keeping the pool sparkling clean and healthy.”
Diseases such as cryptosporidiosis are highly contagious and are easily spread simply by swallowing contaminated pool water.
“Many bacteria can be killed simply by using chlorine and through normal pool filtration. However diseases such as Giardia and cryptosporidium are not eliminated so easily,” Mr Burns said.
“Therefore we encourage people to take care not to introduce these bugs to the pool in the first place.”
